1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to cotton harvesters and more particularly to a unique basket mounting, moving, and unloading system.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,942 typifies current cotton harvester unloading systems wherein the basket is pivotally mounted for swinging laterally of the machine to dump the load of cotton into a receiving wagon or module builder (not shown). It will be noted that the lid or top of the basket is also pivotally mounted to permit unloading and is itself shifted even further from the machine during unloading. The center of gravity of the basket is shifted laterally to such an extent as to create a problem in the stability of the machine. Indeed, the above patent offers a solution to the problem by using a stabilizing cylinder between the chassis and the rear wheel support beam.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,723,769 or 2,862,342 refers to the stability problem in cotton basket unloading. While this patent unloads the cotton differently than in U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,942, it retains the basic teaching of tilting the basket about a fore-and-aft axis. Moreover, the cotton must be moved upwardly out of the basket in its tilted discharge position.
A design goal for efficient cotton harvesters is to maximize the cotton storage capacity of the machine to reduce the frequency of stopping to unload. An aid toward this goal is the use of compactors as shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,215,291. A greater degree of compaction could be obtained if the basket were a rigid unitary structure to withstand the loads imposed by compaction of the cotton. However, it will be noted that baskets in common commercial use today (the type shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,215,291 and 4,059,942) have a hinged top which adds little or no rigidity to the basket since the top is merely pivotally connected thereto.
To summarize the problems associated with commercially known cotton harvester basket structure and function, the typical baskets in use today are of the so-called "side-dump" type which create stability problems during unloading. These baskets have pivotal tops which add to the stability problem and which do not have the rigidity to accommodate optimum compaction of cotton therein.
Even in the prior art (U.S. Pat. No. 2,723,769 above) which is not of the "side-dump" type, the function of tilting about a fore-and-aft axis remains and with the added problem of moving the cotton upwardly for discharge.
Discharging a load of crop material without tilting the bin structure is shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,284. However, this is unrelated to cotton harvesting, or metering discharge via an extendable door system as disclosed hereinbelow.